camera equipment help.

hey everyone, i'm an 18 year old photographer and i'm looking to buy a new camera.

i orginally had a nikon fm10, but now i want to get a new camera. i'm looking at the canon eos elan 7ne. it seems like a great camera, but in order to save myself some money, should i just stay with nikon and get something like the nikon f80 or n80? they also seem like great cameras and i already own two nikon lenses.

i feel inclined to go with nikon, but i still like the canon (i'm very indecisive), any suggestion?

I would stick with the FM10 that you already have. I know its not as fun as buying a new camera, but I think that your money would probably be better spent on a few new lenses and a nice tripod. It has been my experience that you learn a lot more when using an older manual camera than with the fancier automated cameras. I learned the hard way and first bought an entry level automated SLR, then bought a higher end model and then finally an all manual camera. My photographic knowledge and understanding accelerated rapidly with the manual. Just an opinion.

I have an eos elan 7, and it is a great mid-range camera that performs a just as an SLR double its price... I would not waste the extra money on the eye controll option. It realy is not that important with only 7 focus points, and even on the eos 3 (which has 45) it is a bit slow and performs inconsistantly.
The FM 10 is a great camera... it is fine even for a pro. with the right lenses you can realy grow with it. So the cost of a new SLR which is maybe around $400 for what you are looking for, could buy atleast two great lenses or other gear.

I would say that if you are new to photography and you own a Nikon FM10, your money would be better spent on a nice lens for your camera. I own several cameras and have to agree with the others that I learned much more experimenting with my manual cameras. Remember, often times it is not the equipment that makes the image great, it is the vision of the photographer.

I won $500 in a photo contest, with the only stipulation being that I had to spend the money on a camera or other photo equipment.

During the two weeks I waited for the check to arrive, I went to dcresource.com nightly to look at cameras. You can click on a list of features and see which cameras meet your criteria.

I clicked on all the features I wanted, and not one camera met my criteria. I dropped the choice of having the camera take AA batteries and three popped up. One of those cameras was $1200.00, so that was out.

I then looked at pictures taken of the same scenes with the remaining two cameras, and could clearly see that the one camera's shots were better.

The camera that met most of my criteria for what I wanted to do, and in my opinion, was the best camera available for what my intentions were, was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20.

I have since moved on to the Nikon D50, but I think you might want to try what I did and see what the best choice for you would be.

Good day. I just came across a small shop where i could buyanalog SLR cameras. Two of them r in the price range of mybudget. Iam new to photography..specially film..need advice or suggestion from anyone..k..one modelis russian ZENIT 21XS comes with a 200mm lens costs ard57 $ another is YAHSHICA FX3 2000 costs ard 100$..

1. Which is better.2. Are the prices quoted worth or needs bargaining.3. When i googled for fx3 i found more websites for FX3 2000 super..is it the same cam?

My purpose to buy this film camera is to learn basics also to use black and white. Iam not going in for a flash Since i want to use this camera only in daylight.

I still use my old cannon F1 what i had when i was photography student. I still have it, its been around the world with me and i had it when i meet my wife. You dont always need the new stuff some my stuff is older then me and iam 28. The main thing is to have the eye for it

Murali - go for the Yashica instead of the Russian Zenith (it is lighter and easier on the hands). Better still find a Contax which has very good lenses, but treat these as your stepping stone into photography (see next paragraph).

Patrick, after a few years you will find that the cost of the camera body is the smallest part of photographic equipment, so decide on a particular series of lenses and buy the body that goes with that. On the other hand, I would advise you to get a digital, as when you are starting out, you want to see immediately what it looks like and the quicker you see what you did, the quicker you learn - BTW you will also need a computer to upload to, with a digital.

And do not forget, photography is an art but you need to master the technical details in order to produce what your mind sees. Technicalities should never get in the way of a good image - in other words, never let anyone tell you "it is out of focus, badly exposed etc." if that was the intention you had when you took the photo.

You don't buy a camera; you buy the lenses. Research the glass. If you do, you'll end up probably with any Canon. Canon simply has the best glass. Don't believe me? Look at the sideline of any sports event--they almost all shoot Canon.

Funny Andy...I always disagree with you. My argument was NOT about the camera...it's the glass. NOTHING is better than Canon L series glass. That's why we shoot it. That's why you see all those WHITE lenses at major events--NASCAR, Super Bowl, NBA Playoffs. Why don't you upload a pic for us of all those events showing all Nikons?

Anyway...my argument still stands: You don't buy a camera; you buy the lenses.

As always, you should put the crack pipe down....just my nickel's worth.